Cohen



Feb. 28, 1956 COHEN 2,736,049

WATER-FED BRUSH Filed June 7, 1951 I I IN VE NTOR BY Maw ATTORNEY United States Patent WATER-FED BRUSH Ernest Cohen, Glossop, England Application June 7, 1951, Serial No. 230,300

Claims priority, application Great Britain June 13, 1950 3 Claims. (Cl. 15-129) This invention relates to brushes, and is particularly applicable to the type of brush having a hollow stock through which water or other liquid may be fed to the bristles.

Water-fed brushes are nowadays frequently employed in the cleaning of vehicle bodies, the normal form of carwashing brush having a rubber stock and bristles soft enough to obviate any risk of damage to the finish of the surfaces under treatment.

Such an article is obviously ill-suited for application to the wheels and underparts of a vehicle, which are usually dealt with by means of a high-pressure jet (either alone or in conjunction with an ordinary hard brush), the relatively high first cost of water-fed car-washing brushes deterring the average vehicle-owner from providing himself with two or more such brushes designed to suit different parts of his vehicle.

In addition to their employment in the washing of vehicle bodies, water-fed brushes have been found highly advantageous for the cleansing of buildings and equipment used in the production of food or beverages, the washing of dairy cattle, and many other similar purposes.

In many of the operations indicated above, the removal of grime and/or organic matter, and the elimination of possible bacteria, will obviously be facilitated by the application of a detergent or antiseptic solution to the surfaces under treatment, instead of merely water.

One object of the present invention is an improved construction of brush which can be rendered suitable for a variety of different purposes with a minimum of expense and trouble in conversion, a further object being to enable the above-mentioned application of a detergent and antiseptic solution (if required) to be achieved in a simple but highly etfective manner.

According to this invention the hollow stock of the improved brush comprises a bristle-carrying member and a body member which forms, or is provided with, a handle, such members being normally maintained in superposed relation by interengagement of their peripheral portions, and at least one of the interengaging parts being of elastic material (such as rubber) so that it may be deformed, when desired, for separation from the other member.

It will be appreciated that such an arrangement allowsa variety of bristle-carrying members, with different bristle strengths, to be associated with a given body member.

Preferably one of the two members constituting the stock is provided with an integral or other flange around its periphery, the inner face of such flange being undercut or channeled for interlocking engagement with the periphery of the other member.

The stock members, when mutually interengaged, may have their adjacent faces sufficiently spaced apart to permit the accommodation between them of a detergent or antiseptic adapted to be dissolved by water entering the stock and to be fed to the bristles with such water.

For example, the inner side of the body member may 2,736,049 g Patented Feb. 28, 1956 have means for locating tablets of the soluble detergent or antiseptic so that the water has free access thereto during its passage through the stock.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a part-sectional side elevation of a waterfed brush intended for car-washing purposes and embodying the present invention,

Figure 2 is an underside plan view of the body portion of the brush stock, and

Figure 3 is a section of the said body portion on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 and with the bristle-carrying portion interengaged therewith.

In the construction illustrated, the bristle tufts 5 are secured by wires 6 or otherwise in sockets 7, in a rubber plate 8 which may be ovoidal in profile.

The body of the stock 9 consists of a moulding 10 of similar shape but somewhat greater dimensions, and having a dependent peripheral flange 11 which closely embraces the edges of the bristle-carrying plate 8.

The latter is located within the flange 11 in such a way as to provide, between it and the underside 12 of the body member 10, a chamber 13 to which water may be fed through a suitable inlet 14 at the top of the member 10 and from which such water escapes through a plurality of small outlets 15 between the bristle-sockets 7 in the plate 8. This inlet 14 may be aligned with, or transverse to, the major axis of the ovoidal stock 9.

The water inlet 14 has moulded or otherwise located within it a metal bush 16 which is tapped to receive a screwed nozzle 17 at the end of a tubular stem 18 adapted at its other end 19 for connection to a hose-pipe. This stem 18 forms a convenient handle for manipulating the brush and is conveniently provided with a rubber grip 20.

Thus far the brush follows normal practice, but instead of the edges of the bristle-carrying member 8 being homogeneously and permanently bonded to the interior of the flange 11 in known manner, the inner face of such flange is moulded with an endless circumferential channel 21 into which the edges of the member 8 may be entered by resilient deformation of one or both members.

Once assembled together, the parts 8, 10 of the stock 9 remain connected in a secure and substantially watertight manner during normal use of the brush, but can be separated in a few seconds should it be desired to replace the original bristle-carrying member 8 with a similar component having stiffer or softer bristles.

Thus a car-owner, having washed the bodywork of his vehicle with a soft brush, may treat the wheels and underparts of the same with a stiffer set of bristles without even the necessity for'disconnecting the body 10 of the brush stock 9 from the water-supply hose.

A brush constructed in accordance with the present invention is of course, suitable for other purposes than the washing of vehicles. For example, a car-washing brush may be converted, if necessary, for use in dairyfarming, e. g. for the internal cleansing of milk-churns and the like or the washing of the cattle.

With such operations (and others) in mind, the underside 12 of the flanged body member 10 is moulded with a plurality of recesses 22, each of which corresponds in diameter to a known form of detergent tablet 23. These recesses 22 are of such depth that portions of the tablets 23 initially project therefrom into engagement with the bristle-carrying member 8 and are thus exposed to the action of the water flowing through the chamber 13 to the outlets 15.

In the case of an ovoidal brush-stock 9, the body member 10 may carry six tablets 23 of standard size, there being, for example, two pairs of such tablets at the central portion of the member and one towards each end of its major axis.

As solution of the solid detergent proceeds, the tablets 3. 23 will, of course, become loose in their recesses 22, and to ensure that they remain approximately located in the water chamber 13 under these conditions, the underside 12 of the-body member 10 is preferably moulded with dependent projections 24 around the recesses 22.

If desired, an antiseptic in suitable form may be sub stituted for the detergent aforesaid, or the brush may be used in the normal way without any detergent or other substance inside the stock 9.

it will be appreciated that when the character of the liquid issuing from the brush-stock 9 indicates exhaustion of the detergent or antiseptic within the latter, .the two stock members 8, 10 can quickly be separated to permit the insertion of fresh tablets.

Obviously the particular construction of brush-stock described may be modified in numerous ways without departure from the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A water-fed brush consisting of a rigid hollow stock open on one face, a feed tube entering said hollow stock at the face opposite to said open face, a substantially fiat bristle-carrying member of flexible rubber removably held in said open side and forming with said stock an elongated chamber having substantially parallel roof and floor formed by said stock and member respectively, a plurality of depressions in the inner face of said roof for holding a solid soluble body in each depression, said depressions being spaced along the periphery of said stock, said feed tube entering said stock centrally between said depressions and adapted to distribute liquid to all said bodies without impinging directly thereon, the distance'b'etween' saidroof'and'floor being such that said bodies may lie in said depressions in contact with said floor, a plurality of rows of projections depending from said roof and between adjacent depressions to prevent said bodies from moving out of said depressions Wh'ile permitting free access of liquid to said bodies, and a plurality of openings in said member intermediate said bristles.

2. A brush accordingto. claim 1 in which said stock is oval, said feed tube entrance is elongated and in the longitudinal axis of said stock, said rows of projections being-transverse tosaid axis.

3. A brush according to claim 2 in which there is an in-turned flange around'the lower end stock forming an internal shoulder, said member being within said stock in contact with said shoulder.

References Cited inthe file of this patent Germany Oct. 9, 

